All animals sleep, although we really don't know why. We have several theories, but there is no consensus on the matter. Animals don't sleep the same way. Elephants sleep only a few minutes at a time, while cats sleep most other lives. And dolphins only sleep with half their brains at a time.

Ed Yong tells us about research into how different animals sleep. One thing we're sure about -you have to get the right amount of sleep to function properly. I've been reading his science articles for years, and this is the first time I've ever heard him speak. Up until now, I've read those articles in an American accent, but will read them in a British accent from now on. (via The Atlantic)

New Year's Eve is the one occasion where you might feel an obligation to party. Everyone else is celebrating, and it may be the only opportunity to let your hair down for a long time. It doesn't always turn out how you expect it to. That's the point of this video from College Humor.

In fact, New Year's Eve rarely turns out to be the happy celebration it's portrayed to be in movies, your friends' stories, or even in your fuzzy memories. There's nothing more traditional than starting out a new year with profound disappointment, loneliness, and regret. Look at it this way: if you spend New Year's Eve watching TV or even by going to bed early, it won't make a bit of difference in what's going to happen in 2018. (via Tastefully Offensive)

Once again, Beutler Ink has produced a year-end poster paying tribute to the newsmakers, celebrities, trends, and memes of the closing year, titled Here's to 2017. This year, that involves a lot of details. I'm happy that Wonder Woman is front and center. Among the politicians and protesters, you'll see plenty of pop stars, athletes, and fictional characters -and a crowded RIP section. That's a lot of people, which makes it hard to see at this size. Enjoy a much larger -and enlargeable- version at Beutler Ink, where there's a link to purchase the poster if you choose.

Maybe I should rename this category "Best of Websites," since blogs aren't so much of a thing these days. Yet I am still linking the year-end retrospectives of the same blogs, as well as other types of sites.

One valid way to look back at the year gone by is to see what people wanted to know more about. Search engines are not only the easiest way to get more information, but those searches are also documented. Every year, Google releases their statistics on what people searched for the most. which gives us an overview of the world's curiosity. The most asked question was "how," meaning that people were planning to do something, whatever that thing was. The top search terms of the year in the United States were:

You may start watching this thinking that they are lip-synching to a record, but no, this woman's voice is just that good. And at the end of an all-night wedding reception.
She is Clodagh McCarthy, singing an old Irish folk song at the wedding of her sister Patrice O’Connor and Donagh Davern in Tipperary. The video has become quite popular.

Patrice comes from a family embedded in music and it was therefore no surprise that a sing-song started after the wedding.

However, what has happened since has been phenomenal, as the video of Patrice’s sister Clodagh McCarthy singing, with Patrice harmonizing, has gone viral.

Cats are strictly individual in their eating habits. One cat will gobble everything quickly while another nibbles slowly. Still another turns his nose up to salmon because it's not tuna, then eats a spider for the fun of it. And then there's the one in every crowd that gets food all over the floor and himself. This video from Simon Tofield is actually an ad for his new (free) video game called Crunch Time, in which Simon's Cat and the cats from the video hunt for treats to eat. (via Laughing Squid)

It's been two weeks since the newest Star Wars movie hit theaters -is it too soon to post a LEGO scene from The Last Jedi? If you are trying to avoid spoilers, don't watch this video. But if you haven't seen The Last Jedi by now, you probably don't care all that much. Then again, if you are in China, you still have another week to wait for the film to open.

This must be record time for turning a new film into a LEGO short, but that's exactly what Huxley Berg Studios did in this LEGO recreation of a scene from The Last Jedi. Many fans, even those who didn't like the movie overall, thought this was the best scene in it.

The Black Sabbath song "War Pigs" is illustrated with the dark side. YouTuber voordeel edited war scenes from all nine Star Wars films into the song with an emphasis on the long line of the bad guys of the galaxy wielding death and destruction. There are grand entrances, light saber fights, and space battles, edited into a breathtaking clash of evil vs. good. The biggest drawback is that it's pretty short. (via Laughing Squid)

Three-year-old Isabella doesn't want her daddy to leave her. The ukulele was right there, so she stalled by singing a little song for him. She made it up as she went along. It's adorable. That's pretty resourceful for her age. And now Bella's got a viral video to put on her resume when she's trying to get into a performing arts school in about 15 years. (via Digg)

Can you scare people in only 15 seconds? Sure! Emma, a video from Daniel Limmer, could have been even shorter, but the set-up is part of its charm. You don't know what's going to happen, and the few seconds leading up to it is all you need to develop a real dread.

This very short film ended up as the first-place winner in the 2017 15 Second Horror Film Challenge. It also won in the category of twist endings. You can learn more about the competition, like how each celebrity judge voted, at Facebook. The contest is now accepting entries for the 2018 competition until October 15. (via Boing Boing)

Mathany Green House is a sustainable off-the-grid home in upstate New York. When their well was installed, they sent a GoPro camera down into the newly-drilled well because the driller said there were limestone caves down there. As the rope is fed, you see what the inside of a modern day drilled well looks like. Then all you can think is "How deep is this well?"

It's 120 feet deep. Or maybe more, but that's as far as the camera went down. Most of it is under water. They either reached the bottom, ran out of rope, or gave up when the light was gone. The caves were reported to be at 110 feet, but we can't see anything that far down. Still, the video is mesmerizing as it plunges further and further into the depths. The ride might be a little claustrophobic if you are so inclined, but you can pretend you're traveling through a wormhole into another dimension, if that helps. (via Geekologie)

The folks at Bad Lip reading made a Christmas video of Donald Trump singing about the holiday, and it didn't get posted until a couple days after Christmas. I don't know if that was unintentional, or a joke about Trump doing things backwards. The song is fairly catchy, and may just stick in your head.

DJ Earworm is back with the ultimate year-end music mashup. His mix for 2017 highlights the dance sounds of modern pop music. The 25 biggest songs of 2017 are all in the mix, which has a definite Latin tone. The song list and lyrics are at the YouTube page.

Condé Nast Traveler asked folks from other countries to show what an American is like. They pulled up US slang, put on their best American accent, and planted a big smile on their faces, because we're known for that. Taken all together, they seem to have the same stereotype of what an American is like. Did they get that from tourists, or from the movies? I would guess movies. Mean Girls, to be specific. The woman from South Africa talking about Texas is my favorite. Or maybe Japan, when she just imitated us eating. (via Tastefully Offensive)

The new year is a time to start fresh, which is why we make resolutions to improve our lives. While our record for keeping those resolutions is pretty poor, there's nothing wrong with starting off with a new calendar and good intentions. Simon Tofield brings us some of the more common and useful New Year's resolutions illustrated by the cat. You and I know full well that cats don't change. But sometimes they can inspire us to change by being a good example or a bad example. Simon's Cat is both.

The news out of Washington is more and more outrageous every day, but we have gotten used to it. The question is, should we have gotten used to it? Vox explains how this past year has left us cynical and strangely accepting of a new normal. Now it's normal to hear our president spew alternate facts and attack our government institutions, because our Overton Window has shifted. The effect is summed up succinctly in the latest comic by Sarah Andersen.

Romantic relationships in Star Wars are rare and doomed to fail. If you are avoiding spoilers for The Last Jedi, stop reading now, and don't watch the video. There's one main romance in each trilogy (so far), and the one we've seen in the new movie most resembles the passionate yet abusive relationship between Anakin and Padme in the prequels. It would have been enjoyable if they had a better actor to play Anakin. The thing between Han and Leia should have been the exception, as they don't represent different sides of the Force, and the fact that they eventually separated is just sad. But this video from ScreenPrism is mainly about the light side and the dark side in The Last Jedi and the sparks that flew. It won't work out, which is the best thing in the long run for Rey. (via Digg)

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

The Pulfrich Effect is a way to present a video in both two dimensions and 3D -at the same time. How can they do that in a YouTube video? We don't have the glasses! Tom Scott explains why it only works in a motion picture, because time is actually part of the formula. It's not new, so you may have seen this effect used in movies and never even realized it. The Pulfrich Effect is said to work better with the bigger sizes of video, and at higher resolutions. Try it in full screen mode to get a more pronounced effect. How does it look to you? I have poorer vision in one eye than the other, so I'm seeing some weird effects that are not easy to describe. (Thanks, Edward!)

The winner of the second season of Asia's Got Talent is The Sacred Riana, an Indonesian illusionist. Her magic tricks are fairly standard, but her presentation is quite unique. The best way to describe it is "creepy." It's possible that she won because the judges were too terrified to give the title to anyone else! You can imagine her crawling out of a TV set in the movie Ringu. There are four performances in this video, at 00:20, 5:15, 10:30, and 17:10. You can see more of The Sacred Riana at Instagram. (via Metafilter)

David Ehrlich gets three minutes into this video before the countdown begins, but the montage getting there is really nice. The countdown does not include December movie releases, which is sad. The Last Jedi didn't have a chance. Read more on each film here.

I saw exactly three new movies in 2017: Beauty and the Beast, Wonder Woman, and The Last Jedi (twice so far), so I'm no expert on film. But there are plenty of people around who are, and you might want to read what they think of the state of cinema in 2017.

Monday, December 25, 2017

Who knew that Luke Skywalker liked to sing while he piloted his X-wing into battle? Bad Lip Reading took the back-and-forth between fighters and made it into a song called "Hostiles on the Hill." While earlier bad lip readings put nonsense into the actors' lines, the more recent videos have incorporated complete sentences that hang together loosely, and even tunes. Even if you aren't impressed with the song, you have to admire the deft editing that makes it seem like those exact words are coming from the mouth movements seen in a decades-old movie. And even if you aren't impressed with any of that, this is an excuse to watch Luke and company defeat the AT-AT walkers in the Battle of Hoth again.

We've reached the last week of 2017, and for that we are thankful. As I do every year, this next week will be full of posts about the highlights and lowlights, the best, worst, and most notable things about 2017, arranged by category. Let's begin the year in review with books.